Ms Ayling is standing for the party in the Labour seat of Great Grimsby, where she lost out by just 700 votes as a Tory candidate in 2010.

The seat is second on UKIP’s target list after Clacton, where Tory turncoat Douglas Carswell is the UKIP MP.

It is seen by Mr Farage as a key chance to show UKIP can take seats from Labour as well as the Tories.

But the tape, made and passed to us by a UKIP member, shows anger and division over Ms Ayling’s selection.

The meeting was called by David Soutter, the man in charge of vetting UKIP’s election candidates, after it emerged many members are refusing to campaign for Ms Ayling.

She sparked a racism row last year after she was recorded discussing the number of foreigners entering the UK.

She is heard to say: “I just want to send the lot back, but I can’t say that.” And she has been accused by her own mother of being a member of the extremist National Front but has consistently denied the claim – saying she attended meetings in the 1970s only for student research.

On the tape of the meeting, branch member Chris Osborne is heard to say: “I cannot endorse or support a candidate who I genuinely believe – whether anybody else does or not – who I genuinely believe is racist.”

Divisive: Candidate Ayling

He adds that Ms Ayling is “possibly the worst candidate we could have”.

The emergence of the recording comes just days after UKIP suspended MEP Janice Atkinson over allegations about fraudulent expenses claims, and Scunthorpe candidate Stephen Howd over an “incident at his workplace”.

Ron Shepherd, leader of the Grimsby group, claimed the party was already “haemorrhaging candidates like mad” and that, since Ms Ayling’s selection, “we’re haemorrhaging members”.

The UKIP councillors also expressed concern over the alleged existence of saucy photographs of Ms Ayling, which they feared could harm the party’s election chances. The pictures are expected to cause her embarrassment.

She has previously hinted the photos could surface, explaining they date from a time when she visited nightclubs with her ex-husband, music company executive Rob Ayling.

Ex-husband: Robin Ayling allegedly took saucy pics

She alleges he took the pictures and later posted them online in an attempt to discredit her.

But Mr Ayling insisted last night: “I am not going to be drawn on any pictures I may or may not have of my ex-wife. I’m not getting involved.” In the damning recording, Mr Soutter says Mr Farage is aware of the allegations against Ms Ayling. He claims they are without foundation and suggests she is the victim of a smear campaign.

He tells the meeting: “As far as the evidence which has been produced to date, nothing that has not been looked at before has been provided.”

Revealing that UKIP was planning to spend £36,000 on its campaign to win the seat, he warned: “I do not want to lay waste this branch, I really don’t.”

Mr Soutter launched into an astonishing tirade against UKIP renegade Chris Pain, a former regional party chairman who set up a breakaway party after being expelled in a dispute over expenses.

He describes Mr Pain, whose ­Facebook page once carried a rant about illegal immigrants, as “one of the most poisonous people to have been involved with this party”.

He is heard telling members: “If I could bury Chris Pain on the sands of Grimsby I would do, but I can’t.”